Red dust retreating

Red dust retreating

Africa in retrospect

My gear is mostly clean and stored now. A substantive layer of red grit has been rinsed from the bathtub after scrubbing boots, duffel, and backpack. I am getting used to the sun being in the southern sky again. My hands no longer look like worn stone and I seem to have finally lost the sand in my teeth after face-planting on the downslope of the famous red dunes. This was not an easy trip, long days, difficult roads, heat, cold, wind, and dust.

What’s the difference between this and fieldwork in New Mexico?

Space, time. People. Attitudes. Beliefs. Distances, geographic and human. Colors. Textures. The light. Elephants. Hyenas and lions.

My camera stopped working early in the trip. Although disappointed and frustrated by the sudden lack of this visual extension of myself, it gave me permission to see. Instead of looking quickly and then taking photos, I watched the landscape; I observed the animals. I saw more and saw it more viscerally. I picked up my cell phone to take a photo and realized the futility of trying to capture something so distant and obscured, or so intimate and detailed, and put it down again. Slowly shifting away from the thought that poor resolution was better than none.

I have much to process, the photos I did take with my camera and phone, and the images my head holds. These latter are somewhat out of order and are filtered through a light I can’t recreate on a different continent, with colors faded and intimacy lost.

Here are a few landscapes from South Africa and Namibia before the camera quit.

More to come. Stay tuned.

Africa, baboons, Namibia, silhouette, road trip, clouds, sky, landscape, outcrop, South Africa, Augrabies Falls National Park, landscape

Africa, baboons, Namibia, silhouette, road trip, clouds, sky, landscape, outcrop, South Africa, Orange River, landscape, border

Africa, baboons, Namibia, silhouette, road trip, clouds, sky, landscape, outcrop, At Kronenhof Lodge, Hardap Region, landscape,

Africa, baboons, route C27, Namibia, silhouette, road trip, clouds, sky, landscape, outcrop, At Kronenhof Lodge, Hardap Region, landscape,

Africa, baboons, Namibia, silhouette, road trip, clouds, sky, landscape, outcrop, Sossusvlei, red dunes, sand dunes, desert, landscape,

Africa, baboons, Namibia, silhouette, road trip, clouds, sky, landscape, outcrop, Sossusvlei, red dunes, sand dunes, desert, landscape,

Desert light

Desert light

The sky above

From sunrise to sunset, there are no obstructions in the light. No trees create shade, no ridgelines prevent the sun from rising for hours past sunrise. Clouds move across the landscape casting shadows briefly as they sail past. And, then at dusk, the Earth turns golden. Some days, the clouds, the setting sun, and the glowing Earth conspire to create a study in contrasts and a moment so clear, you are forced to pause. There is nothing but this, and nothing more is necessary.

Get banged $2

Get banged $2

The final leg of the Svalbard journey was from Montana, where Big Cat was staying with a friend, to Oregon. Big Cat and I set up for a road trip. I planned to stay in Boise, halfway between Bozeman and Ashland, but nine hours out of Bozeman, I hit Boise and thought, hell, Ashland is only eight more hours. And, so I drove on. The following is a road trip poem and the final Svalbard installment. I’m sure there will be more about Svalbard to come to these pages but this is technically the end of the trip.

Itinerary

Longyearbyen – Oslo

Oslo – Copenhagen

Copenhagen – Newark

Newark – Denver

Denver – Bozeman

One day rest

Bozeman – Ashland

Road trip

Bozeman 0900

Autumn light in golden cottonwoods and aspens

Mind’s eye sees Arctic blue light

Elk herd #1

“Caution! Animals on roadway. 12 bison killed by vehicles in 2018”

West Yellowstone

Coffee

Henry’s Lake

Rigby

“When you gotta habit Idaho, tobacco, signs, banged

get banged $2”

Gas

Idaho National Laboratory

Craters of the Moon

Sagebrush desert and lava fields

Glacier mirages

Sardine juice for Big Cat

Lunch for me

Identified roadkill:

1 Badger

1 elk

1 cat

Uncounted deer and skunks

1 jackrabbit

1 raccoon

Elk herd #2

Gas

Boise rush hour

NPR first time in 71 days

Trump still an idiot

Coffee

Keep going

Sunset

Not polar night

Oregon

White Settlement Road offers glimpse of past

Says more about present

Sardine juice sloshed on truck seats while attempting to catch throwing up cat

Nap

Harney County

Pacific Time Zone

Gas

Starvation Ridge

Thirty miles; one car

Wagontire. Population: zero

Coyote crossing road

Wait. Motion entirely wrong

Two bounds; gone

Straight tail; big body

Revision: wolf crossing road

Midnight pit stop

Moonlight on sagebrush

Too cold for rattlesnakes

Coyote chorus

Coyotes for sure

Just past full moon

Nap

Orion rising; Mars setting

North Star oddly to north

Christmas Valley

Silver Lake

Cattle guard

Open range

Black angus; black night

Juniper scent

Crater Lake

Great horned owl nearly road-killed

Golden moonlight on aspens

Lake of the Woods

Into the trees

Quiet stars

Ashland 0445

Good night, Moon

I took this photo: In Texas

Roadside sign for crosses. Welcome to Texas

Custom built crosses, all sizes

Custom Built Crosses. All Sizes. The Cross Guys.

If I lived in Texas I would be angry also.

I took this photo in Texas. I guess that’s all I have to say about that.

Three landscapes and a soaking shed

A wild winter ride to iconic Central Oregon hot springs offered these landscapes. The road to Summer Lake is a beautiful stretch of little-used highway along the western edge of the Great Basin. Sagebrush gives way to alkali lakes, winds rip across the open flat, and clouds create another dimension of life above the high desert.

Central Oregon, hot springs

An unsettled day in the high desert.

central Oregon, alkaline lake

Silver Lake, Oregon, snow from the west meets billowing clouds from the east.

central Oregon, hot springs

Snow seems to be falling from Summer Lake up to the clouds.

central Oregon, Silver Lake

Between the land and sky of Central Oregon lies Silver Lake.

central Oregon, hot springs

Summer Lake Hot Springs soaking shed

The Road not Taken Enough